Family Histories (70)
New Year's Celebration in the 1950s - By Gloria Mendoza
Contributed by Mike LordThinking back to New Year's Eve when I was young. New Year's Eve in the morning my mother would wake everyone up to clean house. Once done her and her sister would start making food, finger foods, finger sandwiches, dips, Posole & chile, cakes and other goodies. Then they would send my Dad for beer, wine, whiskey and Champagne. My Mom had a little savings just for this occasion. We used to look for change in the couches and all over the house to help her "change" savings. Tonight was a very special night. We had to be in bed by 10:00 p.m. We had to rush and get everything done by then.....Why?......because people, mostly relatives and friends were coming to sing Las Mananitas to my Dad...after all it is the Feast Day of Los Manueles....my Dad's name was Manuel. They would come serenading at our doors and windows singing and playing guitars and violins. We would wake up, greet them, feed them and then the music, dancing and drinking began. My mother served a special drink to the women (her and my Aunt made it up) it was called greenie. Lime sherbert, ginger ale and vodka in a punch bowl. It was a house full of people, singing and they would stay until close to noon time on New Year's Day. All the kids slept on the floor of our bedrooms. Talk about celebrating. Now my family got used to coming over and playing board games for New Year's. We enjoy this better than any other type of celebration. My kids and grandkids are smart.....they don't drink and drive. Always a designated driver if they do drink. I wish you all a wonderful year and slow down on your drinking if you are going to drink. Be sociable.......don't get all locos and locas......lol. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!
Christmas Memories in the 1950s - By Gloria Mendoza
Contributed by Mike LordSo many memories of Christmas back in the 50s and 60s. As an elementary aged kid, we would wake up early Christmas morning, go to church and come home. We were more excited about grabbing our nicely washed and folded flour sack, that Mom had waiting in the kitchen. We would grab our flour sack and go house to house saying our little verse of "Angelito's Somos". Our neighbors and relatives, who lived in the neighborhood, would fill our sacks with oranges, apples, candy, cookies, popcorn balls, and some with a little prayer printed on a card. I remember smelling the coffee brewing on the wood stoves of some of my Aunts who never wanted a gas stove. The smell of wood used in the wood stoves as we walked around the neighborhood. We would finally get home,, eat breakfast and finally open gifts. Never more than two gifts each. As we got older, if it snowed, we would go skiing. NO?..not at the ski basin. That was for privileged kids. We would ski holding on to the bumpers of cars and wipe out on the sewer caps which melted the snow. They were on the street. Oh what fun we had. The drivers knew we were holding on to the bumpers, so they would drive slow and wave as we went back to get in line to grab onto another bumper. This is a memory that goes back about almost 60 years. What memory do you have?
Been up since 5:00 a.m. Today is our Lenten meal day.
Here's my menu: Beans w/chicos, salmon patties (rellenos de pescado) w/green chile, torrejas (torta de huevo) w/red chile, quelites (spinach), macaroni w/tomato and cheese, calabasitas (zucchini squash w/corn), sopa w/caramel syrup and capiratoda (sopa w/a milk syrup) peach dessert. This is the traditional meal I grew up with in Santa Fe on every Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
The week before Easter we went to confession, went shopping for our Easter outfits, and spring cleaned the house. We went to church each day for Holy Week. On Holy Thursday we would all go with my Mom and Aunt to the Santuario. However, starting early in the morning, we would visit each church in Santa Fe, pray a rosary at each one, and light a candle. We would then visit each church on the way to Chimayo. We would arrive late afternoon, visit the posito, and get Holy dirt and Holy water.
My mother would cook for two days. She would bring out her small glass scalloped dessert dishes and serve everything she made in an individual dish. She set all these upon a tray, covering the food with a clean, new tea towel. We would take a tray to all our Aunts and Uncles who lived in the neighborhood. The recipients of our meal would then clean the dishes, fill them up with what they cooked for that day, and send them back to our home. This is a tradition which has died and which I am trying to keep alive.
We had to finish by noon time because all radios, music, and phones were turned off for the Holy three hours. We knelt in front of a nicho where our Santo Nino de Atocha sat with candles lit, rosaries, scapulars and other small tokens surrounding him. We prayed a rosary and other prayers, led by my Mother and Grandma. My Grandma’s prayers were in Spanish. We could not talk or do anything for those three hours. At 3:00 we continued to deliver trays of food and finally sat to eat our meatless Lenten Meal when Dad got home from work. I have continued this tradition for 50+ years.
I am now teaching my granddaughters and daughters-in-law our traditions and recipes.
God bless your families as we ready for the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
HAPPY EASTER!
--Gloria Mendoza
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In 1900, my great-grandparents Charles Norvall and Marietta Phelps Lord arrived in Santa Fe with their two sons, DeForest (5) and Neil (3,) where Charles established a dental practice. He had followed his older brother Frank, who was a thriving dentist in Las Vegas, from Sackets Harbor, New York, .
Charles did well in Santa Fe, becoming the territorial Secretary of the Board of Dental Examiners in 1905. In 1907, he was accused by Marietta of infidelity with his dental assistant, which led to a bitter divorce. Charles left Santa Fe and Marietta married her divorce attorney, Alois B. Renehan in 1909.
This photo is of my grandfather, DeForest, and my great-uncle, Neil, taken in 1909. Neil was adopted by Alois, but DeForest chose to remain a Lord.
--Mike Lord
